When he became a member of the Royal Academy Schools, Turner was 14 years old and was already known to the public because of his father. William Gayone Turner, barber and wig-maker, was so proud of his son that he would sell his works of art at his shop in Covent Garden. For his first presentation at the Summer Exhibition in 1790, the painter had chosen his first oil on canvas, a turbulent seascape. Fishermen at Sea fascinated for the dramatic light of the moon and the great virtuosity which gave the admirable illusion of the boats floating, suspended by the thrashing waves. In the future, the Master who elevated landscape painting to such a level as to have it compete with historic paintings in terms of value, went on to exhibit his works at the Royal Academy of Art for his entire life, in contention with Constable for the top spot of landscape painters. Turner often took advantage of the inaugural day of his exhibitions to add final touches to his paintings, an opportunity for an enthusiastic public to watch him transform his pieces before their very eyes.
The British Museum exhibition traces more than a thousand years of samurai history, moving beyond the stereotyped image of the warrior. Armour, objects and works of art reveal the evolution of a class that shifted from military elite to a central force in Japan’s political and cultural life.
The Royal Academy in London presents a major retrospective devoted to Michaelina Wautier, a seventeenth-century Flemish painter long overlooked by art history. Portraits, mythological scenes and allegories reveal an artist working with full independence across genres.
At the National Portrait Gallery in London, Tim Walker reconsiders his fairy-tale imagery through the lens of a real community. Portraits, staging and narrative create a universe where identity and affection become a collective story. An exhibition that moves portraiture towards a space that is both poetic and political.
A major retrospective revisits the artistic and personal partnership between two central figures of the Bloomsbury Group, restoring their work to a decisive place within British modernism.
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